Family Law Commons^™

Domestic Partnership: Recognition And Responsibility, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

A domestic partnership is a business or political recognition of two adults seeking to share benefits normally conferred upon married couples. To date, partnerships have conferred benefits only; the most logical progression is for partnerships to include responsibilities of support, commitment and obligation within the economic partnership construct of emerging family law. When this occurs, heterosexual couples may lack incentive, but homosexual couples will achieve surer due process recognition regardless of same-sex marriage litigation.

The Role Of Legal Education In The Emerging Legal Specialty Of Pediatric Law, Diane C. Geraghty

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Rights Of Unwed Fathers And The Best Interests Of The Child: Can These Competing Interests Be Harmonized? Illinois' Putative Father Registry Provides An Answer, Susan Swingle

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Jurisdictional Conflicts Between Juvenile Courts And Child Welfare Agencies: The Uneasy Relationship Between Institutional Co-Parents, Bruce A. Boyer

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Diploma Dilemma: An Inequitable Result Under North Carolina's Equitable Distribution Statute - Kuder V. Schroeder, W. Greg Merritt

Campbell Law Review

This Note addresses the rationale of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in Kuder, as well as alternative remedies relied on by other courts which could help avoid the unjust effects of the Kuder decision. In addition, this Note analyzes how other jurisdictions have handled similar cases and if those methods would be applicable and proper in North Carolina. Finally, this Note suggests how attorneys and supporting spouses can avoid the consequences that will follow as a result of the Kuder decision.

Enforcement In Domestic Violence Cases, Hollis L. Webster Hon.

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Criminal Courtroom: Is It Child Proof?, Barbara Gilleran Johnson Hon., Timothy R. Evans

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Notes: Family Law — Lying About A Spouse's Adultery To Speed Up A Divorce Does Not Prevent A Suit To Enforce The Spouse's Promise To Pay Support. Schneider V. Schneider, 335 Md. 500, 644 A.2d 510 (1994), Frank J. Mastro

University of Baltimore Law Review

No abstract provided.

Masking Dependency: The Political Role Of Family Rhetoric, Martha Fineman

Faculty Articles

In this Article, I want to explore the schizophrenic nature of the interaction between social ideals and empirical observations concerning dependency. I am particularly interested in the family as a social and political construct that facilitates this interaction. Specifically, I argue that continued adherence to an unrealistic and unrepresentative set of assumptions about the family affects the way we perceive and attempt to solve persistent problems of poverty and social welfare. In the normative conclusions that are generated and reiterated in political and popular discussions about family, we assess the "justice" of particular policies addressing societal problems with reference to …

The Last-In-Time Marriage Presumption, Peter N. Swisher

Law Faculty Publications

The typical scenario for the last-in-time marriage presumption is not as unusual as one might expect: A husband (or wife) has unexpectedly died, and the bereaved surviving spouse is in the process of bringing a legal proceeding that may include a probate action, a wrongful death action, a suit for social security benefits, a workers' compensation action, a life insurance action, or another legal action for related compensatory, probate, or insurance benefits. However, during the pendency of these actions a former wife comes forward, claiming that she has never been divorced from her deceased spouse and that she, rather than …

Federalism And Families, Anne Dailey

Faculty Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Whatever Happened To The "Best Interests" Analysis In New York Relocation Cases? A Response, Merril Sobie

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This response to Justice Sondra Miller’s article will first discuss the competing interests and expectations of the parties to a relocation dispute, and briefly outline the national view or views. In fact, there is no national standard, or anything approaching a consensus among the states. The New York experience under the exceptional circumstances standard will then be analyzed and appraised. My conclusion is that the standard should be maintained, although I believe that the Court of Appeals should revisit the issue to clarify the factors and criteria relevant to a determination.

Fathers, The Welfare System, And The Virtues And Perils Of Child-Support Enforcement, David L. Chambers

Articles

For half a century, Aid to Families with Dependent Children ("AFDC")' -the program of federally supported cash assistance to low-income families with children-has been oddly conceived. Congress has chosen to make assistance available almost solely to low-income single-parent families, not all low-income parents with children. At first many of the eligible single parents were women whose husbands had died. Over time, a growing majority were women who had been married to their children's father but who had separated or divorced. Today, to an ever increasing extent, they are women who were never married to the fathers of their children.2

Fighting Domestic Violence In The Nation’S Capital, Deborah Epstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Every year, in the District of Columbia alone, the Metropolitan Police Department receives more than 18,000 calls for help from victims of domestic violence, and more than 2,500 battered women bring legal actions requesting protection from their abusers. Thousands of other cases go unreported, either because the victims are too afraid of their batterers to report the violence, or because they do not know how to obtain relief to which they are entitled.

Preventing Bidding Wars In Washington Adoptions: The Need For Statutory Reform After In Re Dependency Of G.C.B., Shannon E. Phillips

Washington Law Review

In In re Dependency of G.C.B., a Washington court of appeals held that an individual whose parental relationship was involuntarily terminated under the dependency statute lacks standing to later petition to adopt that same child. This Note argues that the Washington adoption statute would not necessarily prevent an equivocating parent who voluntarily relinquished her child from attempting to undo the finality of termination by later seeking to adopt. Nor does the statute effectively limit who can petition to adopt a child to individuals who have been chosen by the child's custodian or who have had the child placed with them. …

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Political And Social Construction Of Families Through Pedagogy In Family Law Classrooms, Lundy Langston

Journal Publications

Most family law materials available today fail to reflect the diversity' of family arrangements in modem society. Traditionally, family law is taught as a rules-based area of law. Students learn the requirements of marriage and the grounds for and consequences of divorce. Currently, there are efforts to expand the codification of family law through such things as support guidelines, uniform acts, and legislation listing specific factors to be considered in custody and property distribution cases. Many of these efforts stem from the underlying assumption that there is a uniform methodology describing and defining doctrine appropriate for resolution of family related …

Modification Of Child Support Awards Under New York Child Support Standards Act, Barbara Gonzo

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Equal Protection

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Models For Parenthood In Adoption Law: The French Conception, Laura J. Schwartz

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

According to Ms. Schwartz, adoption in the United States is currently in a state of disarray and confusion because it has not achieved a satisfactory balance between biological and psychological parent-child relationships. U.S. adoption law has never adequately evaluated the relative importance of both types of relationships to the process of family formation. In contrast, although French adoption faces many of the same challenges as U.S. adoption, the French adoption process is not riddled with the same inconsistency and indeterminacy. Instead, French adoption law and government family policy reflect a societal consensus on the central and intrinsic importance of biological …

Why Teach International Family Law In Conflicts?, William L. Reynolds

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Professor Reynolds sets forth a challenge to conflicts professors: to teach international family law in their conflict of laws classes. At present, many conflicts professors avoid teaching international family law, in part because the study of this subject is complicated by several statutes addressing particularly difficult issues. Ignoring international family law is unwise, because many United States citizens and lawyers are likely to confront such problems.

Moreover, this Article suggests several additional reasons for including international family law in the general conflicts course. First, litigants entangled in divorce and custody proceedings with international complications face high financial and emotional costs; …

Domestic Violence & Partner Notification: Implications For Treatment And Counseling Of Women With Hiv, Karen H. Rothenberg, Stephen Paskey, Melissa M. Reuland, Sheryl Itkin Zimmerman, Richard L. North

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Risk Of Domestic Violence And Women With Hiv Infection: Implications For Partner Notification, Public Policy, And The Law, Karen H. Rothenberg, Stephen Paskey

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Domestic Relations, Deanna D. Cook

University of Richmond Law Review

It is well known that non-conforming payments or overpayment of support will not entitle a payor spouse to future credit against his obligations. This continues to be the rule in Virginia. In the case of Sanford v. Sanford, the Virginia Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's decision to credit excess spousal support payments made by the husband against his future obligations. The husband agreed to pay spousal support pursuant to a property settlement agreement, which was incorporated into the parties' final divorce decree. The husband was then terminated by his employer, but he received one year severance pay. Based …

Does Mediation Systematically Disadvantage Women?, Margaret F. Brinig

Journal Articles

When state legislatures enabled spouses to obtain divorces without proving fault, one of the real achievements was lower transaction costs. Although the benefit of lower transaction costs for divorce is not completely noncontroversial, the relaxed proof requirements mean that lawyers do not necessarily have to be involved in divorce proceedings. The vast majority of marriage dissolutions involve written agreements between the parties. No-fault divorce also energized the divorce mediation movement.

Mediation is the least intrusive form of third-party involvement in a dispute. Whereas a judge or arbitrator imposes an outcome on the disputants, the mediator assists the parties in reaching …

Remarks Of A Former Welfare Recipient On Selected State Legislative Developments In Welfare, Nitza I. Vera

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

The United Nations International Conference On Population And Development: Religion, Tradition, And Law In Latin America, Gregory M. Saylin

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

At the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, the Vatican, along with several Latin American and Muslim nations, fought against First World nations that sought to include provisions relating to abortion, contraception, sexual education, and women's issues in the Conference's Program of Action. Universal agreement was not reached and several nations, including the Vatican, refused to completely join the Program of Action.

This Note examines the history and theory behind the United Nations population conferences. Against this background, the author examines the 1994 Conference and considers its effect on Latin America by discussing the religion, tradition, and …

United States: Deconstructing The American Family - Developments In Family Law During 1993, Lynn D. Wardle, Margaret F. Brinig

Journal Articles

Persons unfamiliar with the American legal system might be dismayed by the variety and inconsistency of developments in domestic relations law during 1993. The key to comprehending family law in the United States is to know that, within the broad parameters set by the Constitution and minimal federal legislation, each of the fifty American states retains substantial constitutional autonomy when regulating domestic relations. As a result, "a hundred flowers bloom" in American family law-in the form of tremendously varied (sometimes diametrically inconsistent) statutes, policies and doctrines. Despite national trends, novelties or developments of potentially broad interest that occur every year, …

If Judgment Creditors Cannot Set Asunder A Debtor Spouse's Interest In The Marital Home, What Can They Do, John W. Fisher Ii

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Domestic Relations Exception To Federal Jurisdiction: Rethinking An Unsettled Federal Courts Doctrine, Michael Ashley Stein

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.